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Recently discovered Egyptian sundial

The recently discovered Egyptian sundial, a.k.a. Medicine Wheel Mar 14, 2013 A team of archaeologists from the University of Basel has found one of the

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, Mar 21, 2013

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The recently
discovered Egyptian sundial,

a.k.a. 'Medicine
Wheel'

Mar 14, 2013

A team of archaeologists from the University
of Basel has found one of the world's earliest sundials during the
excavation in Kings' Valley, Upper Egypt.

The discovery, which yields one of the world's oldest
ancient Egyptian sun dials, was dug up by the researchers while clearing
the entrance to one of the tombs at the area.

Uncovered in an area of stone huts, the sundial
includes a flattened piece of limestone (so-called Ostracon) on which a
semicircle in black color had been drawn.

The semicircle features twelve sections of about 15
degrees each with a dent in the middle of the approximately 16 centimeter
long horizontal baseline used to insert a wooden or metal ('dowel') bolt that would cast a shadow to
show the hours of the day.

Researchers suggest that “the huts were used in the
13th century BCE to house the men working at the
construction of the graves while needing sundial to measure their work
hours.

hou The earliest (known) sundials known from the archaeological
record are the obelisks (3500 BCE) and shadow clocks (1500 BCE) from
ancient Egyptian astronomy and Babylonianastronomy.

The recent
excavation was done in cooperation with the Egyptian authorities under the
direction of Professor Susanne Bickel.